Friday, April 29, 2011

Purchases made at Consignment stores, Thrift stores and Resale shops should be exempted for the following reasons.

1. Clothing is a necessity not a luxury.

2. Stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army, Savers, Uptown Consignment and many other second hand clothing stores are good outlets for the middle-class and working poor.

While there seems to be a soak the rich mentality in CT, many of the customers who shop in resale shops are single Moms, out of work people who need to dress up to go to on job interviews, Teenagers who have limited resources and a growing group of middleclass taxpayers that can't afford to pay full retail and need to stretch their budget.

Taxing these people further will hurt those citizens who need the help most, especially in this difficult Connecticut economy.

3. These items have already been taxed when purchased new.

4. Second hand stores are good for the environment.

An estimated 12.4 million tons of textile waste was generated in 2008, or five percent of the total municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, according to theEnvironmental Protection Agency(EPA). The textile recycling industry prevents 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textile product waste from entering landfills, which represents 10 pounds for every person in the U.S. That figure represents five percent of the total municipal solid waste generated.

To exclude customers from paying taxes on second hand goods would encourage recycling and be a net positive for the environment.